Punch for gutter forming machine

ABSTRACT

A punch for punching holes in sheet metal gutter or eaves trough for attaching downspout thereto. The punch is mounted upon the forward end of a portable gutter forming machine, just beyond the shear or gutter cutter for cutting the formed gutter into desired lengths. The punch is normally spring-biased to raised position and actuated to lowered position by an eccentric cam. A spring-biased holddown is also actuated by the eccentric cam. The punch is shaped to form a generally elliptical hole with one substantially flat side to receive a similarly shaped &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;drop,&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; or insert, so that either round, elliptical or rectangular crosssectional shaped downspout may be attached to the gutter thereby.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Dwaine E. Warstler 1717 11th St. N.E., Massillon, Ohio 44646 [21] Appl. No. 807,282 [22] Filed Mar. 14, 1969 [45] Patented June 29, 1971 [54] PUNCH FOR CUTTER FORMING MACHINE 5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 72/131, 83/686 [51] Int. B21f1l/00 [50] Field oiSearch 72/129, 131. 132 I76. 182. 181: 29/155. 157T [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,295,769 2/1919 Kux 72/129 2,655,995 10/1953 Whistler..... 83/686 2,826,235 3/1958 Gudmestad 72/181 X FOREIGN PATENTS 609,696 10/1948 GreatBritain.... 72/129 601,376 7/1960 Canada 72/131 Primary Examiner-Milton S. Mehr Aflomey-Frease & Bishop biased holddown is also actuated by the eccentric cam.

The punch is shaped to form a generally elliptical hole with one substantially flat side to receive a similarly shaped drop," or insert, so that either round, elliptical or rectangular crosssectional shaped downspout may be attached to the gutter thereby.

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ATTORNEYS IPIUNCIHI IFOIR GUTTER FORMING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF TH E INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to portable gutter forming machines for forming sheet metal gutter or eaves trough at the job, and more particularly to a punch mounted at the front end of the machine for punching holes in the bottom of the gutter, to receive drops," or inserts, for attaching downspout thereto.

The invention is also concerned with the shape of the hole and of the drop, or insert, to be received therein.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is not known that any gutter forming machine has ever been contemplated, before applicants invention, disclosing a punch associated therewith.

The general practice has been to manually cut the holes in sheet metal gutter, or eaves trough, by means of tin snips. This is a difficult task and the holes thus formed are irregular in shape.

Also, it is not known that such holes, or the drops or inserts, placed therein for attaching downspout, have been of such shape that either round, oval or rectangular downspout can be attached thereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general terms, the invention may be briefly described as comprising a punch mounted at the forward end of a portable gutter forming machine, to punch holes in the formed sheet metal gutter or eaves trough discharged from the forming machine.

Such portable gutter forming machines may comprise generally a horizontal housing having a reel at one end for holding a coil of strip metal of proper width for forming gutter, conventional forming rolls in the housing for forming the metal strip into the desired shape of gutter, and a shear or gutter cutter at the other end for cutting the formed gutter into desired lengths.

The punch depends from a spring-loaded cross arm, normally urged into upward or nonoperating position, a leveroperated eccentric cam being provided for moving the punch down into operating position against the tension of the springs. A spring-biased holddown surrounds the lower end of the punch, tension on the springs biasing the holddown being in creased by downward movement of the crossarm carrying punch.

A shear or gutter cutter is usually mounted in front of the gutter forming machine upon a pair of spaced parallel horizontal rods extending forwardly from the lower portion of the machine housing. For the purpose of mounting the punch in front of the gutter forming machine, these rods are lengthened so that the base plate of the punch mechanism may be clamped thereon in front of the shear or gutter cutter.

The punch is shaped to cut a generally elliptical hole in the bottom of the formed gutter, the hole, however, having one substantially flat side for receiving a correspondingly shaped drop" or insert to which either a round, oval or rectangular downspout may be attached.

It is an object of the invention to provide a punch upon the forward end of a portable gutter forming machine so that as sheet metal gutters or eaves trough are extruded from the machine, apertures may be formed at the desired points therein for the attachment of downspout thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a combination in which the punch is mounted upon extensions of the rods upon which the shear or gutter cutter is ordinarily mounted.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gutter form ing machine and punch combination of the character referred to in which the punch is normally spring-biased to open or upper position and adapted to be actuated to lower or operated position by an eccentric cam.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a combination inwhich a spring-biased holddown surrounds the lower end of the punch and is operated by the eccentric cam.

Another object of the invention is to provide a punch of this type shaped to receive a drop" or insert of such shape as to permit the attachment of round, oval or rectangular cross-sectional shape downspout to the gutter.

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from the drawings and following description, or which may be later referred to, may be attained by constructing the improved punch for gutter forming machine in the manner hereinafter described in detail and illustrated in the accom panying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Having thus briefly described the invention, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a portable gutter forming machine with the punch mounted at the delivery end thereof;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the same;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation showing the punch in normal or raised position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing the punch in the lower or operated position;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the punch apparatus taken on the line 5-5, FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side elevation of the front portion of the gutter forming machine showing a shear or gutter cutter and the punch apparatus mounted upon the horizontal rods in front of the machine;

FIG. 7 is a plan sectional view taken on the line 7-7, FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the gutter formed on the machine, showing a hole as punched therein by the punch; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of a drop" or insert to be received in the hole punched in the gutter.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the construction illustrated in the drawings, in which similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout, a portable gutter forming machine is indicated generally at I.

This machine has an elongated, horizontally disposed housing 2 with a reel 3 rotatably supported at the rear or entrance end thereof for holding a coil 4 of strip metal 5 of desired width for forming the desired size and shape of gutter of eaves trough. This coil of strip metal may be galvanized, aluminum or painted sheet metal of suitable gauge.

A plurality of conventional forming, rolls are located within the housing 2 for forming a sheet metal gutter or eaves trough of desired shape, such as indicated, for instance, at 6. The forming rolls are motor driven, the motor being controlled by a switch 7 upon the front or delivery end of the machine.

A spaced pair of horizontally disposed rods 8 extends forwardly from the front end of the housing 2 and a gutter cutter or shear, indicated at 9, is mounted thereon. This gutter cutter includes a shear blade 10 vertically slidably mounted therein and adapted to be operated as by a lever 11 pivotally connected at one end, as indicated at 12,, to an upright 13 and to the upper end of a plunger 14, the lower end of which is con nected to the shear blade 10,, Gutter forming machines of this general character may be obtained from Knudsen Manufacturing Inc., Denver, Colo.

Under present practice, portable gutter forming machines of this general type are mounted upon a truck bed and used in the field for forming gutter or eaves trough at the job where it is to be installed.

In order to connect downspout to such eaves trough or gutter, a hole must be cut in the bottom of the gutter at the psoper point. Under present practice, these holes are manually cut in the gutter or eaves trough with a pair of tin snips. This is a tedious, time-consuming job and the holes thus cut are quite rough in appearance even when made by the most experienced trained sheet metal workers.

The present invention includes the mounting of a punch at the forward or delivery end of the gutter forming machine so that as the gutter, or eaves trough, is formed and discharged from the machine, neatly cut accurate holes may be punched therein at the desired points.

For this purpose, the supporting rods 8 are extended beyond the gutter cutter a sufficient distance to mount a punch apparatus indicated generally at 15. The punch apparatus is carried upon a base plate 16 having the partial tubes 17 welded to its underside for receiving the rods 8. A clamping plate 18 is clamped against the underside of the rods 8 by the clamping bolts 19 which are threaded into the base plate 16.

Spaced uprights 29 are fixed upon the base plate 16 and support at their upper ends the spaced horizontal bars 21 between which is pivotally mounted the operating lever 22 as indicated at 23 having an eccentric cam surface 24 at its lower end.

A die 25 is mounted upon the base plate 16 and has an aperture 26 therein the shape of the hole to be punched in the gutter 6. A vertically movable punch 27 of the same cross-sectional shape as the die aperture 26 is connected at its upper end to a cross-head 28 which is spring biased upward by the coil springs 29 located around upright rods 30 fixed upon the base plate 16. As best shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the springs 29 urge the upper end of the punch into contact with the cam 24 at the lower end of the lever 22.

A holddown ring 31 is slidably located around the lower end of the punch 27 and spring biased downward toward the bottom of the formed gutter 6 by coil springs 32 located around upright rods 33 carried by the holddown, the upper ends thereof being slidably located in apertures 34 in the cross head 28.

The cross-sectional shape of the punch 27 is generally ellip tical with one substantially flat side 35, as best shown in FIG. 7. This punch forms a generally elliptical hole 27 with one straight side 35', in the gutter 6, as shown in FlG. 8.

This is for the purpose of receiving a drop" or insert of generally elliptical cross section 27a with one flat side 35a, as shown in FIG. 9. This drop has an out-turned flange 36 at its upper end so that it may be dropped in an opening 27' in the gutter and retained therein by the flange 36. With this shape of drop," either elliptical, circular or rectangular cross-sectional shape downspout may be attached to the gutter 6 as desired.

lclaim:

1. In combination with a gutter forming machine including a horizontal housing having a reel at one end supporting a coil of strip metal to be formed into a sheet metal gutter within the housing, the formed gutter being delivered from the other end of the housing, a punch apparatus mounted at said other end of the housing for punching holes at desired points in the bottom of the formed gutter, a gutter cutter and the punch apparatus being mounted upon spaced horizontal rods connected to said housing, the gutter cutter being mounted between the delivery end of the gutter forming machine and the punch apparatus.

2. In combination with a gutter forming machine including a horizontal housing having a reel at one end supporting a coil of strip metal to be formed into a sheet metal gutter within the housing, the formed gutter being delivered from the other end of the housing, a punch apparatus mounted at said other end of the housing for punching holes at desired points in the bottom of the formed gutter, the punch apparatus including a base plate, a die upon the base plate having an aperture therein the shape of the hole to be punched in the gutter, a similarly shaped vertically movable spring loaded punch cooperating with said die, and a cam operating said punch.

3. The combination defined in claim 2, in which the punch depends from a cross-head which is spring biased toward said m. ll. The combination defined in claim 3, in which the cam is located upon a lever pivoted upon a horizontal bar connected to uprights mounted upon the base plate.

5. The combination defined in claim 4, in which a holddown ring is slidable upon the lower end portion of the punch, upright rods upon said holddown ring being slidable in openings in the cross-head and coil springs being located around said upright rods between the cross-head and the holddown ring. 

1. In combination with a gutter forming machine including a horizontal housing having a reel at one end supporting a coil of strip metal to be formed into a sheet metal gutter within the housing, the formed gutter being delivered from the other end of the housing, a punch apparatus mounted at said other end of the housing for punching holes at desired points in the bottom of the formed gutter, a gutter cutter and the punch apparatus being mounted upon spaced horizontal rods connected to said housing, the gutter cutter being mounted between the delivery end of the gutter forming machine and the punch appAratus.
 2. In combination with a gutter forming machine including a horizontal housing having a reel at one end supporting a coil of strip metal to be formed into a sheet metal gutter within the housing, the formed gutter being delivered from the other end of the housing, a punch apparatus mounted at said other end of the housing for punching holes at desired points in the bottom of the formed gutter, the punch apparatus including a base plate, a die upon the base plate having an aperture therein the shape of the hole to be punched in the gutter, a similarly shaped vertically movable spring loaded punch cooperating with said die, and a cam operating said punch.
 3. The combination defined in claim 2, in which the punch depends from a cross-head which is spring biased toward said cam.
 4. The combination defined in claim 3, in which the cam is located upon a lever pivoted upon a horizontal bar connected to uprights mounted upon the base plate.
 5. The combination defined in claim 4, in which a holddown ring is slidable upon the lower end portion of the punch, upright rods upon said holddown ring being slidable in openings in the cross-head and coil springs being located around said upright rods between the cross-head and the holddown ring. 